The Museum is pleased to host a fall series of screenings of Black Maria Film Festival award-winning films, presented by Festival director Jane Steuerwald.

Program 3 on Wednesday, Nov. 7, at 7 pm, will feature the Black Maria Stellar Award-Winning documentary, “The Washing Society” by Lizzie Olesker and Lynne Sachs. The program will also include an epilogue by Olesker and Sachs called, “¡Despertar! – New York City Laundry Workers Rise Up.”

The 44-minute documentary starts from the question, “When you drop off a bag of dirty laundry, who’s doing the washing and folding?”  “The Washing Society” brings us into New York City laundromats and the experiences of the people who work there. Dirt, skin, lint, stains, money, and time are thematically interwoven into the very fabric of the film through interviews and observational moments.  “The Washing Society” explores the slippery relationship between the real and the re-enacted with layers of dramatic dialogue and gestural choreography, and creates a dream-like, yet hyper-real portrayal of a day in the life of a laundry worker, both past and present.

The filmmakers will be present to discuss the film, its impact and subsequent outreach with the audience.  Special guest is author/producer Emily Rubin, who will give a reading inspired in part by the themes of changing neighborhoods addressed in “The Washing Society.”  

Launched in 2005, Rubin’s project “Dirty Laundry: Loads of Prose” is a “ground-breaking, suds-producing” reading series held in local laundromats in and around the Lower East Side and in between washers and dryers in California, Colorado and Massachusetts.

For each program, doors open at 6:30 pm, the film screens at 7 pm, followed by Q&A. Light refreshments will be served. A suggested donation of $5 will be collected at the door. Admission is free for students and teachers. Mark your calendars for the last screening of 2018 on Wednesday, Dec. 5.

The Black Maria Film Festival’s Hudson County Movie Tour is made possible through the generous support of The Hudson County Executive Thomas De Gise and the Board of Chosen Freeholders – the Hudson County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs & Tourism. Special thanks to Division Director Gina Hulings, Director/Administrator.

Since 1981, the Black Maria Film Festival has been celebrating and preserving the diversity, invention, and vitality of the short film. The Festival’s home is New Jersey City University in Jersey City, NJ, and is named after Thomas Edison’s original West Orange film studio dubbed the “Black Maria” because of its resemblance to the black-box police paddy wagons of the same name.

Black Maria is an international juried film competition, focusing on short films including those that shine a light on issues and struggles within contemporary society. Its touring programs always include provocative works by diverse filmmakers from across the US and around the world. These artists often represent an under-served constituency who might not otherwise have the opportunity for live public exhibition nationwide or abroad.